MMH welcomes new podiatrist, Dr. Siebrecht

EDUCATIONAfter finishing high school Siebrecht attended Wartburg College, Waverly, where he had a presidential scholarship, played men’s varsity basketball, including a trip to the national tournament, and baseball, was a Wartburg basketball camp counselor and coach and was a resident assistant. He graduated in 1994 with a bachelor of arts degree in biology.He received his Doctor of Podiatric Medicine in 1998, from the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences, now known as Des Moines University, in the College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery where he also had a Presidential Scholarship for four years. While there he was a teaching assistant in anatomy and lower limb anatomy and also played on the men’s basketball team.He took a one-year residency in podiatry at Greater Detroit Hospital on the northwest side of Detroit, Mich., the experience something of a cultural shock with puncture and gunshot wounds, diabetic ulcerations and inner-city foot and ankle pathology.from 1999 to 2000 he took his primary podiatric medical residency at Covenant Medical Center, Waterloo, including training in office surgery and management. He calls the latter part “office space residency.” when the resident was not doing surgery, there were other rotations including emergency room, family practice, infectious disease or in the office of one of the clinics learning billing and coding or, as he says, “the bread and butter” of practice. There are, he continues, a lot of podiatrists who did nothing but surgery in their residencies and later were in office settings without knowing what to do.He followed the next two years with podiatric surgical residency at Covenant with training in forefoot, rear foot, ankle and lower leg pathology.Research included case reports on: Giant Cell Tumor of the Ankle Joint, Surgical Treatments of Polydactyly, Retrospective Analysis of various Surgical Treatments of Proximal fifth Metatarsal Fractures, and Type III Dorsally Dislocated Hallux with Osteochondral Lesions of the Tibial Sesamoid. The first two case reports were done at Covenant the last two at Broadlawns Medical Center.He practiced at the Foot and Ankle Clinic in Spencer from 2002-2003. Although he liked the northwest Iowa community and people, he says he wanted to be closer to his home in northeast Iowa and family.in 2003 he joined the Family Foot Care Center in Cedar Rapids where he did surgery, had office space and practice including nursing homes, similar to what he plans here.

CITY COUNCILThose who live in Norway know Dr. Siebrecht as a member of the Norway City Council. He has served two years on the council and has two more years on his term. The city, he comments, has purchased the former high school building, sold more than once after Norway became part of the Benton Community School District, and is looking for options for use of the site after the building is torn down. He is a social member of the Norway American Legion.Dr. Siebrecht is training his black Labrador retriever, likes to hunt and “loves the outdoors.” those growing up in northeast Iowa learn how to hunt and how to fish, Dr. Siebrecht says. Bow and shotgun deer hunting, duck hunting, mushroom and shed hunting – for deer antlers are strong on his list of activites. Shed hunting is his activity during February or March during a winter walk in the timber. He owns some timber in northeast Iowa that connects to his dad’s. He enjoys fishing on the Mississippi River and trout fishing as well. He also likes gardening and canning. He is single.his father is part-time Realtor and retired insurance agent. his mother is a retired school teacher. He has two older brothers, Scott, who is an IT (information technology) specialist with Principal in Des Moines, and Aaron, who lives in Des Moines and is public defender for Marshall County and a reserve officer in the Army JAG (Judge Advocate General).

TREAT PATIENTS CLOSE TO HOME“I’m looking forward to working in a small community”, Dr. Siebrecht says. “Being from Garnavillo, population about 600, or 700 when I was in high school, and (while I was) growing up, there were two smaller hospitals – (one) in Guttenberg and (the other in) Elkader which were great as a kid for anything . . . instead of driving to Dubuque, the nearest, bigger city, we could stay close to home.“What I’m trying to do here is keep people local. this is a main hub – Marengo is the county seat. you have a great hospital here. Let’s bring everyone here. nothing against Cedar Rapids, but the majority of a lot or the people are elderly and don’t want to drive to Cedar Rapids. I don’t blame them. That’s why we’re offering more care, more often, here.”